Gifts for Kids Who Love to Draw
Some kids draw from the minute they wake up. The crayons are always out, every scrap of paper has a dragon on it, and the fridge ran out of room months ago. If you are shopping for a kid who loves to draw, the best gifts give them better tools, more ways to make things, and a reason to keep going.
A blank page is the best gift for a kid who loves to draw.
Here are gift ideas for every kind of young artist, from toddlers with chunky crayons to kids who fill sketchbooks with comics, plus a few ways to turn all that art into something they will keep.
Gifts for kids who love to draw and color
Everything in one place, ready to carry to the table.
Kids who draw every day use up their supplies fast, and the cheap stuff can make drawing frustrating. A small upgrade goes a long way:
- A carry caddy with colored pencils, washable markers, crayons, and a good sharpener.
- A thick drawing pad or a hardcover sketchbook that feels special.
- Watercolor pencils, which draw like pencils and turn into paint with a wet brush.
- A tabletop easel or a roll of paper for big drawings.
- A washable smock and a set of kid paints for the kid who likes to draw and paint.
Tip: skip the giant 150 piece sets. A smaller set of good tools usually gets used more.
Gifts for kids who love to draw comics
Empty panels are an invitation to tell a story.
Comic fans are storytellers who happen to think in pictures. Feed both parts:
- A blank comic book with empty panels, so they can plan a story box by box.
- Fine tip black pens and a soft eraser for inking over pencil.
- A small desk lamp for their drawing spot.
- Free story planning help. Our free story builder walks kids through a character, a problem, and a happy ending before they draw a single panel.
Encourage them to create their own characters instead of copying ones from shows. Original heroes are more fun to draw again and again, and they belong to your child.
Gifts for toddlers who love to draw
Big paper, big crayons, big scribbles.
For the littlest artists, it is all about easy grip and easy cleanup:
- Chunky or egg shaped crayons that fit small hands.
- A long roll of paper taped to the floor or a low table.
- Washable markers and bath crayons for drawing in the tub.
- A water drawing mat that dries clean, for mess free scribbling on the go.
Publish their drawings as a real book
An As Drawn cover, crayon lines and all, by young author Xan Galaxy.
For a kid who loves to draw, few gifts feel bigger than seeing their own pictures printed as a real book. With an As Drawn book, your child draws every page of one story and we publish it exactly as they made it, as a printed paperback or a print at home PDF. Nothing is redrawn.
Want to start tonight? Print our free drawing pages and let your child plan the cover and each page. Younger kids can tell the words out loud while a grown up writes them in.
KidLore started at home when our founder's kids saw their own stories become real books and reread them at bedtime. Every book comes with a Certificate of Authorship, and the story and its ideas belong to your family.
Turn the drawings they already made into a storybook
The art pile already holds a story.
Not every young artist wants to draw a whole book from scratch. If your child already has a stack of drawings, Art Tales turns them into one. You snap photos of 8 to 12 drawings, one per photo, in any order. We pick a star character from their art, cut it out of their own drawing, and send it through their other pictures in a short story with a goal, a small worry, and a happy ending.
A sample page: the star cat visits a castle from the same pile of drawings.
Every picture is your child's own art. We never redraw, add, or generate pictures, and the cover says "Pictures by" with your child's name. It works with original hand drawn art only, so coloring pages, tracing, stickers, and characters from shows or games are left out.
Ways to show off their art at home
A clothespin gallery makes room for new work every week.
Part of the gift is showing a young artist that their work matters. A few easy ideas:
- A twine line with clothespins in the hallway, so new art can swap in anytime.
- Two or three front opening frames for their favorite pieces.
- A big portfolio folder for everything else, labeled with the year.
- A "gallery opening" night where they walk the family through their work.
Common questions
Kate the Cat's Party, pictures by Cori Cartwheel.
What do you get a child who loves to draw?
Good basic tools (pencils, markers, a real sketchbook), something new to try (watercolor pencils, a comic book with blank panels), and a way to keep their work, like a book made from their own drawings.
What is a good Christmas gift for a kid who likes art?
Pair a supply gift with a keepsake. A caddy of new markers plus a book of their own art gives them something to use now and something to keep. To have a new printed book by Christmas, order by December 1.
What do I do with all my kid's drawings?
Keep a few favorites on the wall, store the rest in a dated folder, and turn the best batch into a storybook with Art Tales so the pile becomes something you will read together. For more ways to sort, store, and reuse it all, see what to do with kids' artwork.
Does my child need to be good at drawing?
Not at all. Wobbly lines and purple suns are what make a kid's book charming. We publish the art exactly as your child made it.
Give their art a place on the bookshelf
For a kid who loves to draw, a book with their own pictures inside is a gift they will pull off the shelf for years.
More ideas: Gifts for Kids That Aren't Toys and Unique Christmas Gifts for Kids Who Love Stories.